The present invention relates to DIMM connectors and, more specifically, to DIMM connectors with DIMM connector region vias and routing for, e.g., 16 Gb/s signals.
A dual in-line memory module (DIMM) generally includes a series of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) integrated circuits (ICs) and is often mounted on a printed circuit board (PCB) for use in personal computers, workstations and servers. DIMMs were developed as replacements for single in-line memory modules (SIMMs), which became unwieldy as processing capabilities increased over the years. Indeed, while some contacts on single in-line memory modules (SIMMs) are redundant and have 32-bit data paths, DIMMs have separate electrical contacts on each module side and a 64-bit data path. Thus, where a processor has a 64-bit bus width, SIMMs would need to be installed in matched pairs in order to populate the data bus, with the processor then accessing the two SIMMs in parallel. DIMMs were introduced to eliminate this practice.
While there are now many different DIMM variations available, many DIMMs are built using “×4” (“by four”) or “×8” (“by eight”) memory chips with nine chips per side. Here, “×4” and “×8” refer to the data width of the DRAM chips in bits. In the case of “×4” registered DIMMs, the data width per side is 36 bits and, therefore, the memory controller (which requires 72 bits) needs to address both sides at the same time to read or write the data it needs. In this case, the two-sided module is single-ranked. For “×8” registered DIMMs, each side is 72 bits wide, so the memory controller only addresses one side at a time (the two-sided module is dual-ranked).
In any form, DIMMs are arguably the most popular option for memory used in modern computing devices and systems but can exhibit crosstalk among pins. Thus, as data-rate demands for fully-buffered DIMM applications are soon to exceed 3 Gb/s, improvements to DIMM performance characteristics may be required.